I started far to the left and gave the opening right turn a wide berth. Never got kicked or punched. I felt great and tried to stay on some feet as much as possible. After a mile the chop, caused by a strong north wind, worstened. I felt like my form suffered. There was no current helping. Towards the end I was getting cold. I exited via the ladder and could only walk. I kept my wetsuit on. I must have been wobbling a little because a medic came up and asked me if I was OK. I made it to the T1 tent where it was warm but I took over 20 minutes trying to pull my act together.

Maybe try to draft a little more.

I was very cold when I reached T1 and a little disoriented. I usually make a fast transition but I needed time to warm up and pull my act together.

Not pack as much in my T1. I had so much stuff that it slowed me down.

I really enjoyed the bike course. My Cervelo P3 with 666mm Reynolds Strikers performed great. What a fast bike! Most of the roads were very smooth, however there were a few short sections that were rougher. The temps were perfect, ranging from 40 F - 65 F. I wore winter clothes until I got to the Special Needs site, then I changed over to short sleeves and short bike pants and put on sun screen. I carried only one bottle which was sufficient in the cool temperatures and the closely spaced aide stations. The last 40 miles, with the north wind at our backs, was very fast. I was going 22 - 25 mph and not even breaking a sweat. When I got to mile 100 I intentionally dialed it down to get my legs ready for the run. It really helped me.

I didn't receive any penalties but I accidently dropped a water bottle at mile 80. I looked back and didn't see any refs but then, two seconds later, the motorcycle was right beside me. One of the refs was writing something down. I thought for sure I was receiving a penalty. This really played with my mind. Next time, I won't carry water bottles in my back pockets.

I stopped to dismount and I didn't have enough strength in my legs to support my weight. I rolled over right at the finish line with about 1000 people watching. Em-bare-assing! I took my time in T2, pulled out a Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich and fueled up for the run.

Not acting like a complete novice on the bike dismount.

I made sure my first mile was the slowest, then I got into a nice pace. Ran about 6 miles then walked/ran the rest. Talked to some nice triathletes. When it got dark the headlights on the bridges made it hard to see. One volunteer ran with me the last mile. That was cool.

Nothing

I arrived at the finish line after 9 PM. There was still a great cheering crowd gathered but not much was happening. I wanted a blanket but didn't see anyone handing them out. I had to go hunt down a finisher's shirt. But the pizza was good and Set-Up had delivered all my bags.


Set-up events did a good job. I had a great experience. Wilmington is a beautiful city and Wrightsville Beach is awesome. I would recommend this Iron-distance race to both beginner and pro.